Gaskets worn out, needed replacement

Alexandre From Cary, NC

Nov 23, 2007

6 out of 9 people found this instruction helpful

I got both doors out of their hinges and on a pair of sawhorses, this way it is a lot better to work on the doors because you can walk around and really see what you are doing.Truly, once you get the doors out, rest them on the sawhorses, and use a socket driver/screwdriver to release the metal strip that holds the gaskets. When you remove all screws, the whole inside plastic part of the door will be loose.Get a dampen cloth with dish detergent and clean where the rubber is worse: usually at the bottom of the doors.To realign the doors, the trick is the centeral screw: instead of a oval/oblong hole, it is just a round hole, so, once you align those 2 screws, the inner component of the door will be aligined.Now, unpack the the new gasket, follow the instructions to soften it up with hot water and put it in its place.Trick #2: before you order the darn thing, make absolute sure you have the right size of the gaskets. The heights of mine were ok, but the width were not ! Dang ! PartSelect website did not have the correct descriptions and I ended up with basically two for the freezer door side... I didn't want to send it back because of the $$$ and worse, I needed it on that day, so I made an amendment with the old gasket .... So, to save the headache, before you order, get the part number on the website, measure your refrigerator and call the customer support to make sure the fit will be the correct size. Anyway....

Once you get the new gasket resting in place, slide those metal braces inside the gaskets. It's better to have all 4 in place before you screw any one of them.Start with the 2 central (round) holes on each side of the door, then immediately do the corners cuz they are the ones to give you a "pain in the neck" to put in place.Once you got the corners, it's a matter of just put the other screws and make sure the metal brace is covering the "round border" of the gaskets.***** The screws DO NOT pierce the gaskets.

Make suere the gasket rests squarely on the inner side of the door and tighten everything.

Repeat for the other door.

Put the doors back in the hinges and make sure they close properly. You may need to release and re-tighten some screws in order to get a smoth closing.